This year's toy that's insanely highly sought is a Hatchimal. Basically, someone hatches their own egg and a toy comes out to play with.

The toy

This year's toy that's insanely highly sought is a Hatchimal. Basically, someone hatches their own egg and a toy comes out to play with.

Photo: Hatchimals.com

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This year, people are lining up in the wee hours of the morning to get a Hatchimal - a furry toy that hatches from an egg when cared for by a buyer. Some stores have put limits on the number that can be bought at any one time.

This year, people are lining up in the wee hours of the morning to get a Hatchimal - a furry toy that hatches from an egg when cared for by a buyer. Some stores have put limits on the number that can be

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One woman who lined up four hours before a Houston Target opened its doors Sunday said she'd been tracking the toy online to see where it would be available.

"I found one so far, but I need four," she said, sitting next to a row of parents waiting in fold-up chairs, hot coffee in hand. A few days earlier, she waited 40 minutes for her first Hatchimal, she said.

One patient parent walked up to the store's glass doors and peeped inside.

"I'm buying one for my niece," said Alicia Doffing, smiling as she waited outside.

"She better play with it and enjoy it," she joked.

Walmart said Thursday that it started restocking the hot toy after a dry patch and earlier in the week Target announced a new shipment would arrive on Sunday, with a limit of two per person.

"While additional product will hit retail shelves in December, we anticipate this inventory will also sell out quickly," Spin Master, the Hatchimals' maker, cautioned on its website. "We have increased production and a whole new batch of Hatchimals will be ready to hatch in early 2017."

As demand has skyrocketed, parents have resorted to printing out Hatchimals IOU letters from Santa.

But some holiday Grinches have been looking to profit off the toy craze by snatching up dozens and reselling them at a huge mark-up online.

Sara Gruen, the bestselling author known for 2006's "Water for Elephants," snagged more than 150 of the cuddly toys in an effort to raise money to support a prisoner she says has been wrongfully convicted.

But after dropping $23,000 on the adorable toys, the North Carolina-based discovered she could only list three per week on EBay, according to the Philly Voice. To recoup her investment, Gruen launched a Shopify store dubbed Gruen Zoo and off-loaded the coveted toys in short order.